Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons continues to be one of the more befuddling and unique stars in the entire NBA. His stat line seems pretty ordinary and he has an extreme Achilles heel, his lack of a jumper, but he does so many other great things on the floor that impacts a game.
Simmons is one of the elite defenders in the league, and the shots he creates for his teammates make him one of the more misunderstood stars in the league. That is why he does not get the love from fans in voting for the 2021 All-Star Game. Not a lot understand the value he brings to the floor every night.
He was voted in by the coaches as a reserve for the game on March 7 in Atlanta, and that is what is more valuable to Simmons than the fan voting.
“That means more than fan votes and things like that,” Simmons explained. “Personally, for me, just because they see the game, they know the game, they come to the games every night. They see the talent out there, and there’s a lot of talented guys out there, but I’m the type of player who can do a lot of things on the floor. I’m glad a lot of coaches appreciate that and see that.”
Coach Doc Rivers, who will coach Team Durant in the game, was making calls around the East to make the case for Simmons, but he was surprised to hear there would be no doubt.
“It’s funny every coach I talked to, like, literally every Eastern coach I talked to when I said ‘Hey I’m calling on behalf of Ben and Tobias (Harris)’ and they were like, ‘Ben? Why are you calling about him?’” Rivers laughed. “It was funny how they looked at it and how the outside world looked at it. I thought that was interesting. I was pretty confident I told Ben, there’s no way you’re not on.”
Simmons is a supremely talented player who continues to make a big impact on the floor without having to score a large number of points every night. It is important for everybody to see that and realize what he brings to this team.
Unfortunately, Harris was not selected as an All-Star despite putting up career numbers, but now he has a chance to use that as fuel and motivation to show everybody he deserved to be a star. He had 23 points, seven rebounds, and five assists in Tuesday’s win over the Toronto Raptors.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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